Kazdan Paratus
Kazdan Paratus was an Aleena Jedi Knight and General who fought in the Clone Wars and survived Order 66. Biography Early Life In his early life and work towards the Jedi Trials, Paratus did not possess the detachment most Jedi needed in order to pass the Jedi Trials, instead preferring to hole himself in his room and to build droids for the Jedi Temple, to aid in training Padawans. After completing the Trials with his machines, Paratus was appointed a Jedi Knight of the Galactic Republic. During the final days of the Republic, Paratus was the Jedi Temple's head engineer and leader of the Technical division, a position the Jedi Council appointed to him due to his skills as an extraordinary droid maker. He was responsible for many exceptional and unique machines that were in possession of abilities far beyond those of average droids. He worked in seclusion on Coruscant until the Clone Wars broke out. The Clone Wars Refusing to pass up the opportunity to study the droids of the Separatists, Paratus lived life on the front lines, building medical and power droids as well as other machines designed to support the Grand Army of the Republic. Eventually, he took command of a group of clone troopers that were mostly killed off in a disastrous campaign. Due to these circumstances, he was forced to create his own troops that consisted of combat droids that he assembled using makeshift parts. After a great battle, the Jedi Knight returned to the Temple a few days before the issuance of Order 66. The Great Jedi Purge With the activation of Order 66 and the subsequent execution of Operation: Knightfall, the Jedi Temple was sacked by the 501st Legion, led by Darth Vader. In the face of this brutal carnage, Paratus panicked and fled the Temple in an act of cowardice. e escaped Coruscant in a nondescript freighter with several droid prototypes in tow. Wracked with guilt over his abandonment of the Jedi, Paratus descended into insanity. Going into hiding on the waste-covered planet of Raxus Prime, he became a reclusive droid maker. Paratus built an army of personally customized combat droids to protect himself from intruders, creating such types as the Scrap Guardian, Junk golem and Junk Titan. To increase his size and mobility, he designed four mechanical arms to wear on his back. While on the junkyard world, Paratus built a Jedi Temple from scratch out of refuse and made puppets of all the Jedi councilors for the Council Chamber, arming them with various melee weapons. Duel with Galen Marek & Death Approximately 16 years after Order 66, the insane Jedi was discovered by Darth Vader, who sent his apprentice, Galen Marek on a mission to eliminate the Aleena Jedi. Paratus noticed his ship landing and began to worry about what he should do. He consulted a metallic effigy of Jedi Master Yoda as to this matter and grew nervous after his silent "answer," moving his lightsaber from hand to hand. After navigating the junk world, Marek arrived in Paratus's facsimile Temple and was confronted by a Junk Titan armed with two large vibro-axes and a variety of weapons tipping its other arms. The Sith apprentice dodged blows from the junk warrior, and as the floor buckled under the Titan's weight, knocked off one of its weapons with a telekinetic punch. Dodging another attack by the golem, slicing as he went, Marek removed more of its weapons. He rolled through the machine's legs and cut up its spine, scoring a deep blow. The crippled machine attempted to turn at the man, but he used his lightsaber to cut at both its vibro-axe arms, forcing it to drop one axe. He sent a barrage of lightning at the machine, sending all the strength he could muster at it. Its photoreceptors became nonfunctional, though it still charged at Marek with its other axe. The apprentice used the Force to push the creature, knocking it off one of its legs through the walls of the Temple, following it and finally bringing it down in a junk version of the High Council Chamber of the Jedi Temple with junk effigies of the late or missing council members. From a hatch in the machine's front emerged the Jedi Master that Marek had been searching for. Paratus swore he would protect the "Masters" and the mannequins began to stir, distracting the apprentice. Paratus lunged at the invader, slightly scoring a cut down Marek's left arm before it was parried. Though Marek fought back, every move he made was either blocked almost instantly by the Aleena's Lightsaber pike or missed because of the Jedi's constant hopping from place to place. During the battle, Marek was suddenly struck from behind and his lightsaber fell from his hand. He turned to see a junk version of Plo Koon standing behind him in a Form V stance, a vibroblade in place of his lightsaber. After a moment of surprise, Marek used the Force to blow apart the patchwork tribute and regained his lightsaber, deflecting a blow from the recovered Paratus. More "Masters", including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker attempted to face the apprentice, but all were destroyed. With each "death," Paratus clasped his chest deeper in pain and despair at their loss, crying out when the last one fell. The old Jedi then attempted to throw things at the Apprentice but these attempts were thwarted and the battle moved onto a ledge above the chamber. The two warriors exchanged blows until Paratus tried to push the Apprentice off the ledge. Starkiller blocked the ball of energy and sent it flying back towards Paratus. Paratus was slammed into a wall and was forced to move to lower ground. Starkiller then grabbed a piece of debris and threw it at the Jedi. Paratus blocked this and sent it back towards Starkiller who charged up his attack and threw it with colossal force back at the Jedi Master. Unable to block the ferocious attack the engine slammed into Paratus and sent him crashing to the floor of the council camber below, mortally wounded. As he lay dying, Paratus uttered his last words, apologizing to the Masters for failing them yet again. Paratus then became one with the Force and his body disappeared in a flash. Category:Characters